Abbreviations & Acronyms
Abbreviation:
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or a phrase (group of words).
The result of abbreviation is a reduced form or abridgement of writing. They are commonly used because they save time and space.
As said by John Horne Tooke, “Abbreviations are the wheels of language, the wings of Mercury.
Examples:
ATM = Automated Teller Machine
BBC = British Broadcasting Corporation
Acronym:
It is a word formed from the initial letters of the several words in the name and pronounced as one word.
Examples:
NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration (USA)
AIDS = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Most Common Abbreviations & Acronyms with the letter “O”
O
| O / O. / o | Ohio (US state) / Old / Ordinary / Over(s) (Cricket) / O level educational certificate/ Oxygen (Chemistry) / 11 (medieval Roman number) / |
| O– | 11000(medieval Roman numeral) |
| o/a | On account of |
| O. and M. / O and M | Organization and Methods (systems and procedures of a company) |
| OAM | Medal of the Order of Australia |
| OAP | Old-age pensioner (Britain) / Old Age Pension (Canadian) |
| OAPEC | (acronym) Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries |
| OAS / oas | Organisation de I’Armee Secrete (French) (an organization of French settlers in Algeria in the early 1960s) / on active service / Organization of American States / Old age security (Canadian) |
| OAU | Organization of African Unity (now replaced by AU=African Union) / |
| OB | Obstetric(s), Obstetrician (US) / Off-Broadway / Old Boy / Order of battle / Outside broadcast (British) / Out of bounds |
| ob. | obiit (Latin) = died / Obiter(Latin) = by the way |
| ob | Objection (e.g. ob and solution = objection and solution) |
| Obad. | (the book of) Obadiah (Bible) |
| OB-GYN / ob-gyn | Obstetrics and Gynecology / Obstetrician-Gynecologist (US) (informal) |
| OBE | Or best offer (N. American) |
| obvs | Obviously (Short form) |
| OC | Officer Commanding / Officer in Charge / Original cover (philately) / (Officer of the) Order of Canada / Of course (in social media chats) |
| oc | Only child |
| O&C | Oxford and Cambridge (Schools Examination Board) (now replaced by OCR = Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations) |
| o/c | Overcharge |
| OCD | Obsessive-compulsive disorder |
| OCF | Official Chaplain to the Forces |
| OCR | Optical character recognition reader or reading (computing) / Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations (formerly O&C) |
| oct | Octavo |
| Oct. | October |
| OCTU | Officer Cadet Training unit |
| OD / O/D | Officer of the Day / Ordnance datum or data / overdose (of drugs) (slang)/(also O/D) on demand / (also O/D) Overdraft or overdrawn / |
| od | Outer diameter / (a form of) God (e.g.: od’s life = God’s life) |
| O.D. | Doctor of Optometry |
| ODA | Overseas Development Administration (now replaced by DFID = Department of International Development) |
| ODECA | Organizacion de Estados Centro-americanos (Spanish) = Organization of Central Amarican States |
| ODI | One-day international (Cricket) |
| ODPM | Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (from 2002 to 2006) |
| OE | Old English |
| Oe | Oersted |
| OECD | Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (formerly known as OEEC) |
| OED | Oxford English Dictionary |
| OEIC/Oeic | (acronym) Open-ended investment company (a unit of investment trust) |
| OEEC | Organization for European Economic Cooperation (formerly) (now replaced by OECD) |
| OEM | Original equipment manufacturer |
| OF | Oddfellow / Old French |
| Ofcom | Office communications (a regulatory body in UK) |
| OFDM | Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (large digital data transmitting technique) |
| OFEX | (acronym) Oft and Exchange (a share-trading facility in London Stock Exchange) |
| off. | Officer / Official / Officinal |
| OFFA | (acronym) Office for Fair Access (Education) |
| OFWAT/Ofwat | Office of Water Services (a regulatory body in UK) |
| og | Own goal |
| OGPU | (acronym) Obedinennoe Gosudarstvennoe politiheskoe upravlenie (Russian) = United State Political Directorate (formerly in USSR) |
| O grade | Ordinary grade (short form) |
| OH | Ohio (US state) |
| OHG | Old High German |
| OHMS | On her (or his) Majesty’s Service |
| OHP | Overhead projector |
| OHS | Office of Homeland Security (US) |
| OHV | Overhead valve |
| OILC | Offshore industry Liaison Committee (a trade union in UK) |
| OIRT | Organization Internationale de Radiodiffusion et Television (French) = International Organization of Radio and Television (Europe) (now merged into EBU = European Broadcasting Union) |
| OK/Okla/Okla. Okay | Oklahoma (US state) / Okay (all correct/all right/satisfactory) (used to express agreement or acceptance) |
| OLAF | Office Europeen de Lutte Anti-Fraude (French) = European Anti-Fraud Office |
| OLE | Object Linking and Embedding |
| O level | Ordinary level (UK) (education) |
| O&M | Organization and method(s) |
| OM | Old Measurement / Order of Merit |
| OME | Office of Manpower Economics |
| OMG | Oh my God! |
| OMOV | (acronym) One member one vote |
| OMR | Optical mark recognition |
| ON | Old Norse / Ontario (Canadian province) |
| ONC | Ordinary National Certificate (qualification) (now replaced by BTEC = Business and Technician Education Council) |
| OND | Ordinary National Diploma (now replaced by BTEC) |
| OOP | Object-oriented programming |
| OP | Observation post (military) point / Opposite prompt (theatre) / Ordinis or Ordo Praedicatorum (Latin) = (of) the order of Preachers, i.e. Dominicans / Organophosphate |
| op (o/p) | Out of print |
| op | Operator / Opposite / Opus |
| OP | Observation post ( |
| op cit | Opere citato (Latin) = in the work cited |
| OPCW | Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons |
| OPEC | Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries |
| OPD | Outdoor Patients Department |
| opp. | Opposite |
| OPP | Ontario Provincial Police |
| OR | Operations research / Oregon (also Or./Oreg. (US state) / Other ranks (military) |
| ord. | Ordained / Order / Ordinary / Ordinance |
| org | Organization |
| OS | Open Source / Operating System (Computing) / Old style / Ordinary Seaman / Ordnance Survey (UK) / Outsize (cloth sizing) / Out of stock / Overseas |
| Os | Osmium (Chemistry) |
| OSA | Ordinis or Ordo Sancti Augustini (Latin) = the Order of St Augustine |
| OSB | Ordinis or Ordo Sancti Benedicti (Latin) = the Order of St Benedict |
| OSC | Ontario Securities Commission [Canadian (Ont.)] |
| OSCE | Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe |
| OSF | Ordinis or Ordo Sancti Francisci (Latin) = the Order of St Francis |
| OSHA | Occupational Safety and Health Administration (US) |
| OSS | Office of Strategic Services (a forerunner of the CIA) (US) |
| OST | Office of Science and Technology / Original soundtrack |
| OSU | Officer of the Order of St John of Jerusalem |
| OT | Occupational therapist / Occupational therapy / Old Testament / Overtime / Offensive tackle (Football) |
| OTC | Officers’ Training Corps / Over-the-counter |
| OTE | On-target (on-track) earnings (targeted sales earnings by a salesman) / Or the equivalent |
| OTT | Over-the-top (informal) |
| OU | Osmania University (India) |
| OUDS | Oxford University Dramatic Society |
| OUP | Oxford University Press |
